Civic Participation in Five Communities: A Cross-Cultural Comparison

Abstract

<p>This thesis concerns itself with the formulation of a model of civic participation and its testing in five communities in North America and Eastern Europe. The model posits that there are four conceptually distinct sets of variables: socio-economic status, general personal orientations, political culture and political events, each of which acts both independently and additively on participation in civic affairs. It is further hypothesized that these four variables act inter-dependently on two separate dimensions of participation, which are conceptually defined as interest and involvement. The model suggests that using interest and involvement as two separate dimensions and combining these with the four previously defined 'mediating' variable sets, one can construct a theory of civic (political) role and civic (political) role change that provides a useful set of hypotheses about ,vays to ameliorate and perhaps relinquish man's atomization in the mass societies of the post-industrial era.</p>